NOW’s Holiday Film Issue is out today, featuring reviews of all the year-end releases we could squeeze into its pages.

Because I’m just that compulsive, I’ll be tackling those films as they open — some tomorrow, some on Christmas Day, and a couple on the 26th — but if you’re particularly clever, you should be able to find them now by clicking around the section.

For today, though, it’s all about conversation. Here’s an interview with Bradley Cooper, the perpetually underrated “Kitchen Confidential” star who turns up in a thankless role opposite Jim Carrey in “Yes Man”; I also spoke to Taraji P. Henson, who provides “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with most of its emotional heft.

And Glenn, Barrett and I have recorded our very first movie podcast — you can download the mp3 by right-clicking here and selecting “Save”. (Apparently it’s also available in iTunes, though I have no frackin’ idea how you’d find it.) I think it went pretty well, and we’ll be doing more of these in the future.

One more screening this morning, and then it’s clear sailing to the New Year …

This is my first year as the vice-president of the Toronto Film Critics Association, and in advance of the announcement of our awards tomorrow there is a hell of a lot of stuff to do. Also, my latest Sympatico/MSN DVD column has yet to go up.

So, for now, it is my pleasure to direct your attention to the Onion AV Club’s 17 Worst Films of 2008. And think about this: M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” came in second.

This was a bad, bad year for cinema.

Odd news of the day: Someone’s cooking up a new “Phantom” movie.

Given how huge superhero films were this year — and may yet still be, with “The Spirit” just ten days away — I guess it’s no surprise that producers are scrambling to snap up every remaining property.

I’m a little disappointed that the new film looks to be a contemporary update, which means that Billy Zane won’t be returning to the role he made so oddly endearing in Simon Wincer’s 1996 production.

There were a few things wrong with that movie, but Zane wasn’t one of them — he was blamed for the movie’s inconsistent tone in much the same way Alec Baldwin continues to take the fall for the failure of “The Shadow”. (But then, I’m of the opinion that “The Shadow” is not a failure at all; it’s exactly what it wants to be. Well, except for Penelope Ann Miller.)

Okay, so, there’ll be a new “Phantom” movie, probably starring Pacey from “Dawson’s Creek”. Or maybe he should save himself for the inevitable “Plastic Man” adapatation.

What with “The Day the Earth Stood Still” returning to the screen, it seemed like a good idea to revisit other science-fiction adventures that bring interstellar conflict down to Earth. Thus, my latest Sympatico/MSN gallery.

And yes, “Starship Invasions” is in there. Lest we forget, people. Lest we forget.

I’m staring down the TFCA voting deadline, so let’s get right to this weekend’s movies:

“Canvas”: American indie stalwarts Joe Pantoliano and Marcia Gay Harden co-star in Joseph Greco’s modest drama about a man struggling with the care of his mentally unbalanced wife. This would be more notable if the film hadn’t been available on DVD for the better part of the year, as Glenn points out with some delicacy. (I know the DVD issue didn’t stop me from hailing “Tell No One“, but that was a much better movie.)

“The Day the Earth Stood Still”: Keanu Reeves steps in for Michael Rennie in a clearly expensive remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, directed by the guy who brought us “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”. Barrett and Jason both found it agreeable enough, but somehow I haven’t really felt a need to experience this on the big screen.

“Delgo”: The late Anne Bancroft turns up as a character voice in this digital adventure, which also stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt; beyond that, it’s a complete blank to me, dumped into the release calendar at the last minute. The only review up so far is Neil Karassik’s, and he didn’t like it at all.

“Doubt”: Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman face off in John Patrick Shanley’s somewhat calculated big-screen adaptation of his acclaimed stage play; Streep does a decent job of playing one stern note, but it’s Hoffman and Amy Adams whose finely tuned ambiguities really stay with you. Susan found it similarly middling; Kieran was more into it.

“Nothing Like the Holidays“: The wacky-family Christmas dramedy gets a Puerto Rican variation in this surprisingly engaging entry from Alfredo de Villa; it feels occasionally like a filmed play, but the cast is solid and the action moves along well. Also, Luis Guzman is a lot more entertaining here than he is in “Yes Man”. Trust me on that one.

“The Reader”: Kate Winslet makes the most blatant Oscar bid of her career in Stephen Daldry’s machine-tooled prestige picture, in which we learn the whole Holocaust thing was hard on the Germans, too. Okay, it’s deeper than that, but not in Daldry’s conception; seriously, this is the kind of movie that opens with a screen title explaining that Berlin is in Germany. Susan went with it; Adam did not.

“Toronto Stories“: The city-anthology trend hits a wall with this feeble collection of shorts by local heroes Aaron Woodley, Sook-Yin Lee, Sudz Sutherland and David Weaver. Check out the comment thread forming beneath the review; you’d think I was personally attacking the city and its inhabitants, rather than pointing out that a movie isn’t very good.

Okay, that’s everything. Unless you were planning to see the complete “Berlin Alexanderplatz” at Cinematheque over the weekend, in which case … well, may God have mercy on your butt-tocks.

The Golden Globe nominations are upon us, and they are the usual mixed bag: IndieWire notes the snubbing of “Milk” and “The Dark Knight” — with nominations for Sean Penn and Heath Ledger, but nothing else — but also notices the strangeness of Clint Eastwood being nominated for Best Song, but not for Best Actor, for “Gran Torino”.

Having seen the film, and heard the song … well, I think they’re screwing with him.

Beyond that, it’s the sort of mixed bag you’d expect from an organization as, ah, disreputable as the HFPA … Woody Allen’s latest disappointment is up for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical); Tom Cruise got a Supporting Actor nod for “Tropic Thunder”, and Big, Important movies like “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Doubt”, “Frost/Nixon”, “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road” get the expected love.

Strangely, Edward Zwick’s “Defiance” — which is more or less of a piece with the prestige projects listed above — came away with just one nomination, for James Newton Howard’s score.

Ah, well. It’s the Golden Globes; we all know they don’t really matter. Although I do hope that Neil Patrick Harris takes the TV Supporting Actor trophy. He deserves all the prizes his little stick arms can hold.

The news broke over the weekend that Catherine Hardwicke won’t be directing the “Twilight” sequel, “New Moon”.

This is a good thing; Hardwicke’s a terrible director — bordering on the incompetent, really — and though I’m sure teenage girls the world over will disagree with me, “Twilight” is atrociously bad.

Hardwicke’s “New Moon” would surely have been worse, with the success of the previous film encouraging her to follow her directorial bliss. (Remember “Lords of Dogtown”? It’s be like that, but with werewolves.)

But wait! Cinematical reports that Summit Entertainment, which holds the rights to Stephenie Meyers’ books, is considering Chris Weitz, whose most recent credit is “The Golden Compass”, to take over the franchise.

I am leery about this. Weitz may be a terrific director of actors — “About a Boy” features Hugh Grant’s best screen performance, bar none — but “The Golden Compass” demonstrated that he hasn’t got the slightest idea how to make visual effects compelling, and clearly “New Moon” is going to have a few of those.

Ah, whatever. We’ll all find out how he fares in a year or so; until then, it’s entirely academic, right?

Also, the L.A. Film Critics Association has named “WALL-E” the Best Picture of the year. Not Best Animated Feature, mind you, but Best Picture. Good for them!

Roger Ebert has tallied up his Best of 2008 list, and found a plethora of prize-worthy pictures — not ten, but twenty, and that’s just the dramatic features. Then there are the five top documentaries, and a “Special Jury Award” for Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg”, which is neither fish nor fowl.

That’s twenty-six movies that make Roger Ebert’s best list. I know he’s an easier mark of late, but … well, any Best-Of list that finds room for “Happy-Go-Lucky”, “Iron Man”, “Milk” and “W.” could use some trimming.

In his defense, I believe that Roger actually does believe in the films that made his list, as opposed to the obvious calculations that went into the National Board of Review’s top ten. I mean, full props for setting “Slumdog Millionaire” apart as the year’s best picture — it’s near the top of my list as well — but the NBR’s actual top ten reads like a list of failed Oscar bait. “Burn After Reading”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Changeling”, “Defiance”, “Frost/Nixon”, “”Gran Torino” … really, did they just write down the names of the first screeners that arrived in their mailbox?

Oh, “WALL-E” is on there, too, but at this point if “WALL-E” doesn’t appear on a critic’s year-end list, that critic has to go away for a while.

Don’t worry, Roger included it too.